The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-07-30
A WAR STORY.
The Union Spy of the Kelly Lam
GERS and the ''Rebel Queen"
A MOnongalia Soldiers Thrilling Ex.
perience in the Late War.
Written for the Nrw DosIs,os.

but by mistake was sent to Buck
harmon, W. Va, as member of the
Kelly Laneers-a company raised
in Monongalia county, and com
manded by Capt. Harry II Hagans,
with \. n. Hoffman as LIST Lieuten-
ant. AS i had been in the army be-
fore / did not draw a uniform, hav-
ing a good one at home, but failing
to obtain furlough to 90 to get it,
l was obliged to wear citizens suit
for several months.
After ! had been in Buckhannon
week or ten days, a soldier by the
anne of Sutton desired me to 90
with him to an old fashioned apple
bee. AS l was lonesome, | agreed
to go, so accordingly the next even
ing Sutton and l started to hunt the
apple bee We Travelled for some
time, but failing to find it, and the
night being beautiful one and very
pleasant, we perched ourselves upon
a fence to rest. While there we
heard a number of persons singing
some distance away. Most of the
voices were good, but ! could distin-
guish one female voice from the rest.
| had heard good singing but had
never heard voice to compare with
this one. Il was clear as silver
bell and sweet as a Cremona violin.
Sutton remarked that the singing
was at the apple bee. We therefore
followed the sound of the voices and
soon arrived at the house Upon
entering we found about twenty
young ladies and ten or twelve
young men all seated around the
room engaged in pairing apples.
Some one gave me a chair next to
the ladies. | had hardly been seat
ed when my attention was attracted
to a lady two seats from me. To
say she was pretty would not do
justice to her charms. In fact /
thought her the most beautiful wo
man / ever beheld. She was tall
and graceful, fully developed, oval
face, and her piercing dark eyes
seemed to magnetic every one
whom she deigned to notice Soon
l heard her inquire who that stran-
ger was referring to me). The
query passed around the room and
the answer came back, no one knew.
She then inquired the name of the
Union soldier. The answer again
came back, no one knew. She then
remarked that it was of no conse-
quence, as the Yanks would have to
leave Buckhannon On double quick
within a week. This remark made
a deep impression upon me. Did
this girl mean what she said? Was
it possible that she was informed of
the movements of the Confederate
troops? / knew that there were a
number of people in and around
Buckhannon who sympathized with
the South, and the remark made by
this woman was sufficient to inform
me that she advocated the Southern
cause | became anxious to get ac-
quainted with her and, if possible,
to learn what she knew. But how
to proceed. All present were entire
strangers to me-except Sutton
and / did not dare let it be known
that / knew him, for by doing so
the lady would surmise that | had
some connection with the Union
army and would therefore refrain
from giving me any information.
After they had finished the apples
and cleared up the house they en-
gagged in playing. ] am opposed to
plays and believe many of them are
immoral, but being in the army and
very anxious to obtain more infor-
nation from the 'rebel queen" for
so | was afterward informed that
the Union people called her, and |
shall therefore give her this name
as | do not propose to give her real
name, and many of the boys of the
company will recognize from the de-
scription who she was, ] therefore
smothered my conscience for the
time and engaged in the plays. The
"Rebel Queen" always chose me as
her partner in the plays, as she
appeared to have as great desire
to gain information as / did. The
first query she propounded was to
know my business at Buekhannon.
l did not regard this as proper
question from a stranger, so / evad
ed it by saying that my mission was
too important to divulge to anyone.
She replied that / could divulge it
with entire confidence to her, as she
had been informed by friends who
/ was, my business at Buckhannon,
and further that she had been re-
quested to aid me as much as she
could. She informed me that they
proposed having a dancing party at
their house in few nights and that
my company was particularly de-
sired, and that she was very anxious
to become better acquainted and
would assist me all she could. ! re-
turned home to camp and on the
way learned from Sutton who she
was and that she had four brothers
in the Confederate army, and further
that she was as we'll posted as to the
of troops in West Virginia
as the leaders themselves. Sutton
advised me to report what l had
heard as soon as possible to Captain
Hagans. l did so the next morning
and Capt. Hagans replied: THAT
girl knows almost as much about
the movements of southern troops
as General Lee, and there is no
doubt but a rebel column is now on
it's way to attack Buckhannon. CAL
though he had not received any in
formation from any other source, he
also stated that she had taken me
to be rebel spy, as he had been in
formed that there was one in the
He also requested
that l should visit the lady, repre-
sent myself as rebel spy, find out
when they were coming they were
and thus save the company from de-
l pondered the matter
over for sometime. ! despise decep-
ton, and more, should l act as re-
quested and be detected, death
would be the penalty. On the other
hand we had but sixty men and only
thirty-five of these armed and equip
i 81 >